Senior executives and other important folks have a peculiar relationship with social media.
A study earlier this year found that 80% of people thought that executives that use social media are better equipped to lead their organisations. However a couple of other studies found that just 30% of senior executives have any kind of social media presence, and just 10% of CIOs use social media.
So news this week that UK prime minister David Cameron has joined Twitter should be a good thing, right? Well yes and no. Whilst it's positive that the prime minister is present on social media there are ways of doing things, and ways of not doing things. Let me outline a bit of what I mean.
Substance over style
With any social media presence you have on the web you should have a clearly defined purpose for it. This is especially so for senior people that have incredibly busy lives. When every minute of the day has to be accounted for and maximised you need to make sure that your time is achieving results.
So what is the purpose for David Cameron creating a Twitter account? Suffice to say it's hard to know for certain, but it seems possible that with the US presidential elections encouraging more social media chatter than ever before he wants to appear with it. Just being there doesn't really cut the mustard though, especially if it's your PR team that do the tweeting (more of that later).
So my tip #1 for Cameron is figure out what it is you want to achieve, and then measure how often you achieve that.
Measure the right things
Ok, measurement. It's a hot topic on social media as many people get it so badly wrong. Nowhere is this more so than in politics. It seems that politicians see the number of Twitter followers as a kind of proxy for their overall popularity with voters. Kinda like the ultimate social proof.
The problem is though that this then encourages shady behaviour. After all, it's much easier to acquire Twitter followers than it is voters. You only have to ask Mitt Romney, who magically gained a few hundred thousand earlier this year. As far as I can tell though, most fake accounts aren't registered to vote.
So tip #2 for Cameron is to not get bogged down with chasing followers. Use Twitter for something more meaningful than faux popularity.
Be real
During the last election campaign there were a number of billboards where the photo of David Cameron looked all a bit like a wax work. Whilst I don't think many people expect politicians to have any clue about them or their lives, a bit of authenticity would do no harm in reclaiming some credibility for the political classes.
Alas I suspect that most of the tweets made to the new account will be made by a public relations team that will have screened every letter to make sure that the kind of cock ups that footballers regularly engage in don't occur here.
The problem with that is that if people expect the tweets to be anodyne rubbish then it defeats any point of having it in the first place. For sure exhibit good judgement with what you share, but you have to be authentic to succeed on social media.
Tip #3 therefore is to reclaim ownership of the account and start doing it for himself. He doesn't have the time then don't have the account. Don't try and pull the wool over peoples eyes though.
Talking rather than listening
The popular line is that politicians are public servants, here to do our bidding. The reality is often very different though. Social media should change that because it allows people to listen and talk with customers and other end users of the services they provide like never before.
Will David Cameron be doing that though? I suspect not. He's following a handful of people so far, but unfortunately they're all fellow politicians, so I can't see him learning anything new from reading their accounts. It's also doubtful that he's replying to messages or in any way engaging in conversation with his followers.
Social media isn't a broadcast medium, it's a relational medium. You win with it when you use it to engage with your audience, soliciting their thoughts and ideas on how things can be done better. Sadly too many still use it to push out messages in the same way they've always done so via television and other media. It doesn't seem like the Cameron account will be anything different.
So the fourth and final tip is to do more listening than talking. Use the account to engage with the country and set an example that politicians really are here to serve us rather than the other way round.
Of course it's early days with the account, and it may yet confound my fears, but if it could abide by these four simple tips I feel it would not only deliver better results for the government, but would also do much more for the British population.
Here are those four tips again:
1. Have a clear purpose
2. Don't chase followers
3. Be authentic and run the account himself
4. Listen more than talk